And The Hollow Darkness
by Tacodestroyeravenger
Summary: A six-part story that is heavily influenced by T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men." It is highly recommended to read that first but no prior knowledge of it is necessary for this fic. This was written to fill the lack of terror/suspense fics for this fandom.
1. Chapter 1

And The Hollow Darkness

Prologue: And the Murder at Kurtz Mansion

"Mr. Leon Kurtz, died approximately twenty-five minutes past seven," the detective relayed to his partner as he knelt down close to the body.

"Already questioned the butler who found the body in the study when he brought up supper. Cause of death is unknown, but his employees say he was battling sickness ever since he came back from his campaign in Africa."

The other detective sighed as he stared at his partner and asked, "If the old man croaked of natural causes, then why are we here, Marlow?"

The kneeling detective, Marlow, shook his head as he reached for the clenched right fist of the body.

"Because of this."

In Kurtz' palm was a single penny.

The detective gave out a laugh and Marlow looked shocked.

"Thomas! I'm serious! I believe this man was murdered!"

The detective, Thomas, tapered his laugh into a chuckle.

"Let me get this straight. You believe Kurtz was murdered because he was holding a penny when he died? You have heard of the Greeks? Maybe he was just a superstitious old man that knew his time was up."

Marlow made an exasperated sound.

"Leon Kurtz wasn't Greek! He was a politician for goodness sakes! He thought himself the only god worth anyone's time!"

Thomas held up his hands in placation.

"You have some strong feelings about this I can see. So let's say you're right and Kurtz was murdered. Who would do it and why would they be stupid enough to leave a penny in the man's hand?" Thomas made a noise of sarcastic epiphany. "You think it was the butler? It's always the butler!"

Marlow growled at his partner. "I've considered a few options but the man has over fifty employees and that's not including his waiting staff or personal gua-" The man cut off his sentence abruptly.

"Thomas?"

"Yeah?"

"How do you suppose a famous politician could be murdered inside his own home without his personal guard not noticing?"

"...The butler-"

"Forget the butler! My point is, where are the guards?"

Thomas had a puzzled expression. He opened his mouth a few times but could not give a valid answer. He eventually settled on a question.

"Why is the wait staff not missing too?"

Marlow abruptly stood from his crouched position over the body.

"This isn't just a murder. There is something big we are missing."

"You are absolutely correct, which is why my team and myself will take it from here." A beautiful blonde with an all business attitude entered the study and strode up to them with three people behind her. They were all as different as could be. The blonde was tall, all legs and dangerous angles. Her comrades were all a few inches shorter than her and about the same height. One was an attractive young man of Asian descent with cheekbones that could cut a person and a smirk that said he knew it. A redheaded woman stood next to him and she looked like a rainbow threw up on her clothing. The man on the end was more rugged than his fellow peers and was built more like a brick wall than the slender tower that was his boss.

Thankfully, they had different hair colors so the detectives wouldn't have to know their names.

"I'm sorry? And you are?" Thomas asked with a bit of bitterness.

"We're the-" the redhead started.

"NATO," the blonde cut off her colorfully dressed companion.

Thomas lifted a brow and was likely about to make a smart comment when he was interrupted by Marlow.

"NATO? At this hour?" The detective checked his watch to affirm it was late in the night. "The government thinks this is an act of terrorism?"

Thomas gave a look at the three behind the woman. "You don't look like NATO," he said with amusement.

The blonde narrowed her eyes.

"I am with NATO. They," she gestured to the three behind her, "are consultants." She turned towards Marlow. "As of right now, a politician of higher standing died mysteriously after his campaign finally gained some attraction. That is grounds for investigation in my department in case this the beginnings of a terrorist attack."

"Well, you got some credentials?" Thomas sighed in defeat as he crossed his arms.

The woman conceded with the request, and Marlow elbowed Thomas when the man grunted in irritation at the authenticity of her identity.

"See she's the real deal. Now can we get back to the case?" Marlow asked his partner in slight exasperation.

The redhead all the sudden looked confused, her hands raising as she seemed to be tracing the room with her fingertips and mumbling nonsense under her breath. The brunet man next to her started whispering soft words that the detectives couldn't hear but were sure were encouragement.

With the attention on the two, only the young black-haired man noticed the silent and slow easing of the door to the study.

"Hey guys..." he stated in a thick Australian accent.

"What is it?" the blonde asked her charge.

"The door is moving."

All but the redhead turned in time to see the door slam shut.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One: And the Closed Doors

"It won't budge," Thomas stated after the fifth try at opening the door.

"Well what about the windows?" Marlow asked.

"On the second floor?" Thomas retorted.

"Already tried that, mate," the Australian answered as he appeared from behind Marlow. "They are all sealed shut."

The detective gaped as he stared at the young man. "But you were just-and I just-" he spluttered and made vague gestures to where the man was just standing.

"Yeah I know," the black-haired man said with a cocky smirk.

"No cell service either," Thomas said with a huff as he returned his useless phone to his coat pocket.

"So that leaves out Jenkins," the blonde sighed. "So we are stuck in the room that this," she pointed to the body on the floor, "man was murdered in. Great," she concluded with a huff. "My job just got harder."

"I'm sure it's just some teenager that locked us in here for a joke," Marlow stated.

"At a crime scene? You do know how stupid that sounds, right?" Thomas asked his partner.

"Well I don't see you coming up with any ideas!" Marlow defended.

"I know what it is!" The redhead blurted suddenly as she lowered her arms from their waving.

"I knew the dimensions were all wrong," she muttered as she strode to a wall, put her ear on it, and knocked. An odd noise reverberated through the study.

"The walls..." Marlow started.

"They're hollow," the blonde finished for him with a concerned expression.

"That's not uncommon for nineteenth century architecture," the brunet said offhandedly as he walked towards the redhead and listened to the wall as she was.

"Hey, Cassie?" He drawled after a minute.

"Yes?" The redhead replied as she turned her head to face him, her left ear on the wall to mirror his right.

"Do you hear that?" He asked.

"Cassandra? Stone? What is it?" The blonde asked in a firm tone that had a hint of worry in it.

The redhead, Cassandra, shushed the blonde as her brunet companion, Stone, held up a hand.

"There's something in the walls," Stone stated.

The loud click of the door interrupted any response that statement would have received. It opened to reveal the butler on the other side.

"My apologies. I had thought you all would be gone by now. All the rest have left," the butler sniffled as he dabbed his stuffy red eyes.

"Finally! Now we can get past this freakiness and leave," Thomas stated as he walked towards the door. He turned back when he noticed the lack of his partner beside him. "Marlow! Come on! Let's go! We need to leave this weird haunted house! Give NATO the case and get out of here!"

"All the rest have left? How did you get in?" Marlow asked the butler.

"The door was unlocked, sir," the butler replied with confusion.

"Ah huh, nope. See we gotta leave this ghostbusters stuff, kay?" Thomas stated as he stepped past the butler in the doorway.

A slight breeze caressed the occupants of the room, and the blonde took notice of the cracked windows that now hung open freely as if they never resisted at all.

"I think it's best for us to take a step back, also," the blonde addressed her partners as she suspiciously eyed the traitorous panes.

"Now that, I agree with," the Australian said as he was half a step behind Thomas and out the door.

"Jones! Hold up!" The blonde called after the young man. "Cassandra. Stone. We can come back after a bit more recon with Jenkins."

"But Eve-" Cassandra started at the same time Stone said, "Baird, listen-"

The blonde, Eve or Baird or whoever she was, gave a stern jerk of her head.

Marlow followed his waiting partner out the door and past the one called Jones. Eve, Cassandra, and Stone followed behind.

Stone was almost to the door when all the sudden he was hit on the back of the head with something hard. He fell to the floor, landing on his back, and tried to make the world stop spinning in front of his eyes. A blurry shadow passed over him and a shiver ran down his spine. He got one final glance at a surprised and horrified Cassandra before the door shut between them, trapping him with the dark shadow.

Stone bleary watched as the shadow moved over him and to the body of Leon Kurtz. After a moment of nothing, the shadow merged with the immobile corpse. The body convulsed once and was still.

Stone tried to straighten into an upright position, eyes only on the still body, and he winced as he brought his hand to the back of his head.

The lights went off.

He could practically feel the blood pulsing in his body as his heart raced in fear.

Oil lamps flared to life, illuminating the room once again.

The body had disappeared.

Suddenly very alert despite the knock to the head, Stone got up and turned around in the desperate hope of finding the vanished corpse.

His eyes stopped on the wall. The very wall he just listened to not minutes before.

It was whispering.

The sound was like a choir that harmonized a beautiful song but never understood what they were singing. Every word had a nonsensical meaning.

The wall began splitting itself bit by bit, as if by command of these ridiculous whispers.

He could only stare as pieces pushed toward him, like they longed to be free of their monotonous, flat life. As the wall groaned and expanded, he realized that bits of it were transforming themselves into pieces of straw. Even more so, shapes started to release themselves from the wall like walking through a thin veil of water. These forms took a loose and half corporeal shape as they stumbled towards him, leaning on each other to stay upright. The collective voices seemed to be coming from the beings but none appeared to be speaking. Stone tried to focus his eyes on what these creatures actually were while backing away from them. It was only when they got closer that his answer was given.

Scarecrows.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Cassandra turned when she heard a soft grunt behind her and gaped when she saw Stone on the ground. She started toward him but was cut off by the abrupt slam of the door to the room he was in. She yelled for her friend, banging on the door, but she only heard silence on the other side.

"Stone? Jacob? Can you hear me?"

Eve was by her side, trying to force the doorknob to turn, but her efforts were in vain.

Cassandra stopped her attack on the door when the lights of the house flickered and cut out.

"Eve? Ezekiel?" Cassandra felt the blonde beside her, but heard nothing from her friend.

Suddenly, the oil lamps of the hall ignited to life, giving enough light to see.

Eve immediately moved from the door, turning her head to the left to see the long hallway and to the right to the corner turn of the hall.

She drew her gun. "Jones?"

As if on cue, the young man in question came around the corner.

"The others are gone. Something pushed them through a door and shut the thing in my face," Ezekiel said with an irritated huff.

"The same thing happened to Stone," Eve replied as she threw a glance at Cassandra who was still standing by the door to the study.

"Hey guys?" Ezekiel suddenly asked, drawing their attention back to him.

He pointed down the hall.

"Was that creepy guy there before?"

Eve and Cassandra turned their heads to the left in unison.

At the end of the hall stood what was formerly the deceased Leon Kurtz.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Two: And the Shadows

Kurtz was horrifying. His eyes were something out of a nightmare, like deep caverns of darkness that had no end. In fact, his whole aura was of a malicious reaper, out for bright souls to snuff out with one piercing glance of his dead gaze.

The window that foretold the setting of the sun was now as pitch as the creature before it. The only signs of life outside the walls was the start of howling winds and distant thunder. A sudden burst of lightning flashed a menacing shadow of what was once Leon Kurtz, casting darkness over those lifeless eyes, yet the gaze was still felt.

The wind screamed hoarse and loud, and the trees sang their mournful and foreboding warning as the figure raised his arms slowly in the air.

Eve immediately grabbed for her gun, though she doubted it would work on a guy who was deceased not five minutes ago. She also assumed talking him down wasn't a very promising option for resolving the situation either.

It doesn't mean she didn't give it a try though.

"What do you want?" She barely got the question out of her mouth before Kurtz gave a deep rumbling laugh. It echoed in the hall and vibrated the very foundation of the house.

Except he never opened his mouth.

Kurtz had his arms raised to shoulder level and turned his open palms to the walls. This action immediately caused cracks and protrusions to form from the expansion of what appeared to be roots swelled underneath the confines of their manmade prison. The roots rippled and pulsed beneath the surface like veins, the cracks spreading towards them as they got closer.

"Go!" Eve yelled to the two lits, who turned to do just that, but they were cut off by the roots that burst from the wall. One grabbed Ezekiel and wrapped him in its branches, carrying the thief through the wall and into darkness.

"Ezekiel!" Cassandra cried out to her friend and tried to pursue him but was cut off by another branch that clutched her ankle tightly and held her in place.

Baird fired at the dead man, which as she thought, did no good. She turned in time to see Ezekiel disappear through the wall and Cassandra cry out for him. She ran over to her last Librarian and shot at the branch holding her there, releasing the younger woman.

Eve got up with her remaining charge and found Kurtz standing right in front of her.

Being this close, Eve could see how unnatural Kurtz had become. His body appeared as if he bathed in soot, the black smudged in his skin sporadically. He was lifeless yet had a burning fire in the dark pits of his dead eyes.

The wind howled louder.

Kurtz blinked his black eyes and suddenly a branch grabbed Cassandra again and another tossed Eve through an open door.

As the guardian got back to her feet, she saw the door shut on Kurtz approaching a horrified Cassandra.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Text

Chapter Three: And the Many

Eve banged on the door, fear and frustration fighting for dominance in her body.  
A low groan made her spin around with her gun raised.  
It was dark, but just light enough that Eve could tell she was back in the study.  
The study where Stone was last seen.  
"Stone?" Eve tentatively called out, prepared for the worst but hoping for the best.  
A hand appeared from the other side of a desk, gripping it as if to be used as leverage to get up.  
Another groan.  
Eve stepped a bit closer. "Stone?" She tried again and abruptly stopped when she was close enough to see it.  
The hand was red.  
"Eve." She turned as a sinister whisper surrounded her, as if the walls themselves were calling for her.  
"Baird." Eve quickly faced the desk again to see Jacob. He was leaning on the other side of the desk, owner of the red hand, and her gut twisted when she saw him.  
Blood ran from Jacob's ears, mouth, and nose.  
But not the eyes.  
"Eve." He tried, a broken rasp cut off by a groan as he gripped the edges of the desk. His face was ashen beneath the blood, and black veins crawled up the right side of his neck. He held her gaze for one agonizing moment, then hung his head and screwed his eyes shut.  
The desk groaned and the wood cracked beneath his fingers.  
"Stone, what's-" Eve was cut off as the walls rippled. The whispers of her name filled the room.  
"Don't listen to them, Baird." Jacob said in one breath, his voice broken, and the desperate sound of it gave Eve chills.  
"What's going on, Jacob?" It was more of a demand than a question but Eve was becoming scared.  
Stone shivered and was still. Then he slowly raised his head, cracked his neck, and opened his eyes.  
They were black.  
"What's wrong, guardian?" His voice was no longer his own, echoing like he was not the only one speaking.  
Eve raised her gun. "What did you do to Stone?"  
"What do you mean? We are Jacob Stone." If to immediately discredit the statement, his eye sockets briefly looked hollow and his mouth had a faint and exaggerated stitch up the sides. Then it was gone and his face was set in an unconvincing bewilderment as he started to walk around the table. He stumbled, pausing to put a hand on his abdomen like he was about to be sick or was injured, and bowed his head.  
"It's hard, ya know, not having bodies. But they are fragile, aren't they?" Jacob raised his head to grin at her, blood on his teeth and dripping from his mouth. He swiped it away with his arm.  
Eve's face scrunched in a distasteful confusion. "What have you done to Stone?" Eve repeated as she held her gun steady, trying to pretend she didn't know the face in front of her.  
Jacob's black eyes bored into her as his eery grin slowly dropped into a serious expression. "Are you going to shoot us, guardian?" He stepped towards her again, and she tried to remain stoic.  
"Don't!" Eve felt her resolve falter and Jacob was now upon her. His chest bumped her gun.  
"You're weak." Jacob made to grab the gun from her but Eve snapped out of her frozen fear.  
"Sorry, Stone." Eve punched him in the face and watched him stumble backwards. She tucked her gun away just in time for him to lunge at her with a growl.  
Eve tried to side step his attack, but was clipped, and she used the momentum to roll over a desk behind her and pull Jacob with her. She brought his full weight down on the chair there, breaking it into pieces, and he laid still.  
Then he groaned.  
"Stone?" Eve questioned as she stared down at him. His eyes were clenched shut, and he held an arm around his middle. Then he coughed, and blood trickled from his mouth.  
"Baird..." her name was so softly spoken but it kicked her into action.  
Eve immediately knelt over him. "Stone?" She tapped the side of his face.  
If only she realized her mistake beforehand.  
Jacob's eyes popped open, the black pools reflecting the surprised terror on her face before his hand shot up and grabbed her throat.  
"Weakness gets you killed, Eve." He sneered her name as he rose to his feet with her still in his grasp.  
Eve tried to pry his fingers away, but his grip was too strong. Physical force couldn't save her now.  
"Jacob-" She wheezed. "You gotta fight this."  
Stone just grinned his bloody smile at her. It didn't look right on him. Too much teeth.  
"Jacob's not here anymore." He leaned in close. "You can't form prayers to this broken stone." He paused, as if surprised of what he said. Then he drew back to meet her eyes with his own, emotionless ones. "Goodbye, guardian."  
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-  
Cassandra gasped awake, unsure of how she came to be unconscious in the first place. Her head pounded and she sat up with a small pained noise. What happened? She remembered Kurtz. Supposedly dead, Kurtz. He attacked them. He approached her and then...  
Oh. Then he touched her head and she woke up here.  
Here, meaning a dungeon lookalike basement of some sort. It had cactus growing from the cracks in the stone walls and floor. What wasn't cactus, was the same branches that Kurtz used to take Ezekiel.  
Oh Ezekiel.  
Cassandra looked around and saw no sign of any of her friends.  
She was alone.  
"No." She whispered.  
"Yes, I'm afraid."  
Cassandra jumped and she turned to see Kurtz emerge from the shadows on one of the walls.  
"Where are my friends?" Cassandra shakily got to her feet, wincing at the hammer in her skull.  
"Oh. Here and there." Kurtz waved a hand nonchalantly. His mouth still didn't move. It was wrong.  
"What do you want?" She could end this here and now if he gave her an easy answer.  
"What does anyone want?" He chuckled and Cassandra shivered.  
Kurtz moved towards her. "I want what you want, Cassandra. I want to live."  
Cassandra blinked at him. "What?"  
"I can help you, Cassandra. You can live your life without worrying if tomorrow will be your last day." He stalked around her rigid form, stopping to bore his unnatural eyes into her. "You just need to help me kill your friends."  
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-  
Ezekiel groaned from his slumped position on the floor. He hurt immensely. "Where's a dollhouse when you need it?" He asked the thick air around him. At least the last haunted house had its perks.  
Blinking into the near-darkness, and based on his surroundings, he assumed he was dragged into the walls where he was unceremoniously dropped and forgotten.  
Sitting up with a slight grunt of discomfort, Ezekiel put an arm around his ribs. They weren't broken, but definitely bruised. He thought he might have got used to the feeling of pain after repeatedly experiencing it in that video game, but he just knew how to manage it.  
Oh well. He wasn't going to think about that now. Not when he was stuck in the walls and everyone else was in danger.  
Looking around, Ezekiel realized he was in a secret passageway.  
Well Cassandra and Stone were right about the walls.  
Ezekiel got up with a soft moan, putting a hand on the wall until he was sure he could stand properly.  
His hand was not touching the wall.  
Squinting, Ezekiel pulled out his phone and used it as a light.  
Shining it on the wall, he jumped back in horror.  
A line of dead bodies stared sightlessly back at him.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Four: And the Survival

"Form prayers to broken stone." Eve whispered. She knew that. Somewhere.

"What?" Jacob suddenly had a crack in his stoic demeanor. He almost looked...worried.

Eve started to feel his grip tighten and she internally panicked, but not for long. Her instincts kicked in and she brought her arms down on the inside of his elbow, bending the joint and dropping her body from his hold.

Catching the air she lost, Eve was ready for the next attack. She kicked the legs out from under Stone, wincing in sympathy as she heard him hit the desk on the way down. Getting to her feet, she was dismayed to find the kick barely delayed him. She dodged his punch, trying to avoid hitting her friend too much.

Unfortunately, she had to change her tactic when Stone landed a fist in her gut and she quickly lost the air she had regained. It was like a freight train collided with her stomach.

He could never punch like that before. Or at least he never tried.

"Sorry about this, Stone," Eve said to her charge as she straightened up and brought another desk chair she had grabbed to hit him full force.

It crashed into pieces upon impact of his left side, sending him stumbling back.

Eve took the opportunity to surge forward and kick him in the chest, his unstable feet sending him to the floor.

"What do you want with Stone?" Eve tried to find a reason for her friend's possession.

Jacob shook his head, struggling to his feet, and he stumbled a bit when he got there. "We do not care who this body belongs to."

Eve paused. She didn't expect him to answer. "What do you want then?"

He coughed suddenly, so harshly he bent double, and crimson dripped from his mouth onto the floor.

He panted and looked up at her with a bloody grin, but this time, Eve could see it was a facade. "What does anyone want?"

"I don't have time for this. You're killing him!" Eve tried to restrain her anger.

"Yes. A physical form cannot hold us long. Especially all of us at once." Jacob straightened and rolled his shoulders. "So we should kill you quickly."

He lunged for her, but he was slower and she dodged with ease.

"Kill me? Why can't you just answer my questions instead of being so freaking cryptic!" Eve dodged another advance from Jacob, and he crashed harshly into the desk she first found him behind.

A lightbulb suddenly lit in Eve's mind. "Form prayers to broken stone. The Hollow Men. You are the Hollow Men!" Jacob had given her a clue even trapped in his own body.

Gasping from his latest failed attempt, Jacob clutched at the desk he was leaning against desperately and a quick flash of an almost frantic look came over his eyes. Then he chuckled in realization. "Your Stone is stronger than we thought. That was clever of him."

Eve gave a small and impatient nod. "He's a Librarian."

Jacob sighed and he was suddenly completely different. Instead of being hostile, he just looked tired.

"Remember us-if at all-not as lost violent souls, but only as the hollow men. The stuffed men." He chuckled darkly as he slid to the floor and leaned his back to the desk. "We don't want to kill you, Eve Baird. But we have no choice. We are bound by our master. He has our words." He coughed again and grimaced as he pressed a hand to his abdomen. "Your Jacob does not have long. Defeat our master before sunrise and we will not have to kill you. We can leave your Jacob with the information but be quick for we can't resist once he finds out we have let you go."

Eve felt sympathy swell in her but stayed cautious as she slowly knelt a few feet away from him. "We will. We will free you. Thank you." Eve vaguely thought it odd she was thanking the beings that possessed her friend and fought her for the past ten minutes.

Jacob nodded then closed his black eyes. He jerked his head to the left, giving Eve a perfect view of the black veins receding from Jacob's neck.

Then he abruptly threw his head back with a groan and countless half corporeal forms emerged from his body and stumbled to the walls where they disappeared.

Eve blinked in shock. Then she moved closer to the unresponsive Jacob and tapped his face.

Jacob stirred with a groan.

"Baird?" Stone asked groggily.

Then he stilled all the sudden. "Baird the hollow-" Eve cut him off with a finger to his lips.

"They are gone. Are you okay?" It was a dumb question, but Eve needed to reassure herself he wasn't going to die anytime soon.

Jacob stared at her blankly for a moment, then seemed to process her question and its answer all at once.

"Uh. I think I'm o-" Jacob shifted and stopped as his body registered the fact that it disagreed with what he was about to say.

"Oh maybe not." He groaned as he doubled over. "I think I might be sick." He leaned to his right and abruptly lost the contents of his stomach.

Eve moved to his left and sat beside him, her face creased with worry. "Stone?"

He moaned as he straightened, and Eve briefly saw the blood on the floor next to him.

"Never been as grateful to have missed lunch," Jacob said breathlessly as he closed his eyes and wrapped his right arm around his stomach.

Eve couldn't respond, only stare at the red pool on the floor.

"Stone-" she started, her voice cracking marginally.

"I know. I'm okay." He turned his head to her and opened his eyes with that knowing smile he got when he'd done something he shouldn't have. It was mischievous every time before that she'd seen it. Now it was tainted with a lie.

"Are you?" Eve's eyes betrayed her by letting tears well up.

"Yeah. This won't kill me." He turned his head away and cleared his throat. "We need to move."

"I don't think-" Eve started but Jacob was already trying to use the desk to get to his feet. He was panting and swaying when he finally made it, but Eve knew she couldn't say anything to dissuade him.

She got to her feet and took notice of the discomfort her body alerted her to. It was minimal compared to Stone.

Speaking of...

"They told me they left you with some information?"

Jacob tensed with a hiss, rubbing his temples as if he suddenly got a headache. "Ow. Yeah I just got it. Couldn't even be subtle about that." He grumbled as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment.

"There are passageways in the walls. Their master used them to-" Jacob cut himself off with a strangled noise, opening his eyes with a hitching breath.

"Stone! Stone? What is it?" Eve grabbed his left arm as he swayed a bit. He hissed and drew the arm away, as if just realizing it hurt.

"Did you have to hit me with a chair?" He grumbled.

Eve winced at that but tried to give him the banter he needed. If only Ezekiel was here.

"Considering your possessed body was at the time trying to kill me? Yes." She rubbed the sore spot on her abdomen. "Also, you have some untapped potential with that right hook."

Jacob chuckled when he realized she was jesting and Eve felt relief and success surge through her.

Then his face fell once more. "The walls have the missing people in them. They-" He clenched his eyes with a grimace. "They aren't alive anymore."

Eve felt her heart pound as she thought about those unfortunate people.

Jacob opened his eyes in surprise. "Jones?"

-0-0-0-0-

Ezekiel was frozen in shock. It wasn't just sightlessly that the bodies stared at him. They had no eyes to even use the word stare. But Ezekiel knew they watched him with the hollow sockets in their perfectly intact bodies.

It made him sick.

He suddenly inhaled as he unfroze and backed away in horror.

"Save us!"

Ezekiel jumped as the voice came out of nowhere. It whispered and screamed at the same time and his back hit the wall behind him as he tried to escape it.

"No no no nonononono," Ezekiel moaned and turned away from the corpses staring at him with their sightless eyes.

"Ezekiel! Ezekiel help us!" He abruptly stopped, his body stock still as he recognized those voices.

"Cassandra?" Ezekiel looked around him in the semi-darkness.

"Ezekiel! Where are you? Why won't you help?"

Ezekiel felt tears come to his eyes. "Baird?"

"Ezekiel. Why did you leave us?" Eve's voice taunted him again and suddenly he wasn't there anymore.

"Baird?" Ezekiel blinked as he took in his surroundings. He was in a room with flashing lights. There were distant screams.

A hand suddenly landed on his shoulder.

Ezekiel jumped and turned to see Eve. She was half dead, her right arm a bloody mess, and her gaze was full of pain and hatred.

"Why did you let them die?" She shook him and he saw behind her two bodies.

"No. No I didn't-" he started. "I wouldn't-"

"They're dead! Because of you!" Eve screamed as she sobbed, her grip on his arm painful.

Ezekiel saw the bodies behind her move. One lifted itself up on its hands and knees, the other not far behind, and they stood up painfully. One turned its head and Ezekiel saw it was Cassandra.

What was left of her.

"Ezekiel. Why didn't you save us?" She asked, half her face torn from what looked like fingernails.

"How many?" Eve asked.

"What?" Ezekiel was breathing hard, and he finally saw the other body to be Jacob.

"How many times, Ezekiel?" Eve stared at him. "How many time did we die? How many did you try to help us? How many did you just watch?"

Ezekiel's heart raced in his chest. He saw Jacob move towards him, his rib cage exposed on his left side where the bones gleamed in the flashing lights.

"Jones!" It was Stone's voice, but he didn't open his mouth.

Ezekiel thrashed and swung blindly, hitting the zombie version of his friend.

"Jones! Snap out of it!" This voice was Eve but her mouth didn't move either.

His face snapped to the side and all the sudden, he was back in the corpse filled walls.

Eve stood in front of him, her face creased with worry, and behind her, he could see a panting Stone on the ground holding his left side.

"Ezekiel, it's okay. We are real. Breathe." Eve pulled him into an embrace, holding his shaking body as he clutched her desperately. His lungs hurt from the conflicting signals they'd gotten.

Ezekiel saw Jacob slowly get to his feet from behind her and he watched him sway a bit when he got there.

Eve pulled back from him, her gaze searching his face, and turned to face Jacob when she was sure he would be fine for a moment.

"Are you going to be okay?" Baird asked because she sure wasn't going to ask if he was okay at the moment.

Jacob nodded as he stared at the corpses and after a moment he turned and cleared his throat.

"We've got to find Cassandra."

-0-0-0-0-

Kurtz tilted his head at her, eyes glinting in the shadows, and Cassandra shivered.

"It's the rules of life, Cassandra. You kill them and you get their lives."

"Why them? Why me?"

"Oh well you see...Librarians have quite a bit of life magic. Unfortunately you don't have much to give me-" he put a curved finger to her head and Cassandra flinched. "-but your friends on the other hand-" he smiled slowly. "Well they are simply irresistible."

Cassandra straightened her spine. "I won't give them to you."

Kurtz laughed as he stood completely still in front of her. "Oh Cassandra, I already have them right where I want them."

"What? Then why play games?" She would've moved but her body was stuck.

"Cassandra. I need your help, don't you remember?" Kurtz seemed almost playful in tone. "The game is, I kill your friends, or you kill them and we actually benefit from their deaths."

"You wouldn't kill them. You need them."

Kurtz was silent for a moment and his expressionless face gave away nothing to how he was feeling. "That's where you are wrong Cassandra. I really only need one of them."

-0-0-0-0-


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Five: And the End

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

"What? Who?" Cassandra froze.

Kurt laughed again. "Don't be mistaken that I have a specific agenda. Any of them would work. Just one will set me up nicely."

Cassandra shifted in irritation and anxiety. "Why go about it this way? You could've just taken them from the beginning."

"I could have, but their fear is just so alluring and well, deliciously irresistible." Kurtz tilted his head. "And I have no doubts I'll get what I want, I might as well have fun while I do it."

Cassandra began to fume. "Who are you?"

Kurtz stared at her and Cassandra felt a chill down her spine when his lips raised in a smirk. Then they parted.

Then he spoke. "Why, Cassandra, I'm you."

—

Jacob lead the way down the corridors in the walls, seemingly in a daze following the map inside his head. Eve and Ezekiel followed close behind, shoulder to shoulder, and they didn't acknowledge out loud their need for close contact.

Jacob stopped in front of a dead end. "This is it." His voice was gravelly but he looked better each minute. He reached forward and put his hand on the wall. A panel beneath his hand pushed in under his pressing and the wall swung inward as a door.

"That's freaky, mate. Are we sure Cassandra is down here? How do we know this isn't a trap?" Ezekiel tried to sound like his normal self, but his shaky voice betrayed that he was still affected by his earlier hallucination.

"No, I don't know for certain. But this is what the Hollow Men showed me. It could be a trap, but we have to try for Cassandra's sake." Jacob held his side with a grimace as he thought about what could be happening to Cassandra.

Eve reluctantly nodded as she drew her gun. "I go first." She checked to see she still had two bullets left.

Jacob stepped aside to stand next to Ezekiel. The thief sighed. "This is a bad idea."

Eve stepped through the door slowly, finding it to be a staircase when her foot dipped downward. Immediately a line of torches flared to life along the staircase to show it went down for quite a ways.

Ezekiel flinched. "Yep, bad idea."

Eve straightened her posture. "So he knows we're coming."

Jacob suddenly tensed beside Ezekiel, shuddering as if he was cold. "We're sorry."

"Wha-?" Ezekiel had enough time to see the unnatural gleam in Jacob's eye before he was pushed into Eve.

They fell through the door down the staircase, with Jacob taking a step behind them and closing the door.

—

Cassandra felt her heart clench. "W-what?"

Kurtz lifted a brow. "What? Don't believe me? I've filled this house with everyone's worst fear. I've given the cowboy loss of his own mind, the woman unable to save all her friends at once, the thief memories of failure over and over again, and the little girl with a dream of a cure but one that is tainted with a choice. I am all of you. Everything you want but everything you are too afraid to face."

"You are fear?" Cassandra swallowed.

"No, I am the reality of expectation." Kurtz paced around her. "The cowboy expects he won't lose his soul to magic, the woman expects she can save you all, the thief expects to be strong enough this time, and you expect you'll find an easy cure. But the reality is, you're wrong."

"So this is all, what, a fabrication?" Cassandra craned her head to keep her eyes on his pacing figure.

"Some things are, but others are very real. Like my deal."

"What does that matter now? This is just fear, you can't hurt anyone."

Kurtz stopped his pacing and grabbed her shoulders from behind. "Don't be naive. This deal is the one thing that is serious here."

Cassandra shivered at the contact, the coldness seeping through her shirt to her skin. "You know I won't betray them. I wouldn't. I'd never hurt them."

Kurtz laughed as he withdrew from her. "Oh really? But haven't you before?" He moved in front of her.

"How do you know-that was before I-" Cassandra stammered.

"How did I know? I knew you were Librarians the moment you stepped in the building and you question this?" Kurtz tilted his head. "And before what? Before you cared about them? That can change, Cassandra."

"No it won't. I won't-" Cassandra started.

"What do they really mean to you anyways? The cowboy doesn't trust you. The woman thinks you will break. The thief will leave you. They don't care about you. Just pick one, Cassandra, and you can live that life you desire." Kurtz practically oozed temptation. He turned his head, looking at the wall to his right. "And here they come."

—

Ezekiel groaned, blinking his eyes open and trying not to vomit as he felt his body swaying jerkily. His body hurt, bruises forming all over and his head pounding a crescendo. He blinked once more to see stairs. And plaid. He was being carried over a shoulder. Jacob's shoulder. Ezekiel saw a swinging arm and turned slightly to see Eve swung over the adjacent shoulder, still unconscious or faking it.

Jacob was carrying them down the stairs. Ezekiel tried to piece together what happened and why. Jacob pushed them down the stairs, Ezekiel blacked out, then this?

"Stone? Mate, what-?"

"We are sorry." Jacob's voice echoed slightly in the corridor.

"Kurtz knew you would help us. It wouldn't have changed anything." Eve hoarsely spoke.

"We are sorry. He has our words." Jacob said again.

Ezekiel felt like his brain was going to explode. Then it clicked. "Wait-you're the Hollow Men?"

Jacob didn't answer, just stopped at the end of the staircase, opening another door. Ezekiel craned his neck to get a glimpse of a dungeon like basement, with cacti growing out of the walls, and shuddering branches like snakes in the room.

And in the middle of it stood Cassandra, Kurtz smiling wickedly in their direction next to her.

"Just in time. You didn't think you could betray me and succeed, did you?" Kurtz waltzed towards them. "A valiant effort, but useless when you are mine."

"Jacob? What are you doing?" Cassandra gaped at him.

Kurtz turned his attention back to her. "Bring them." He addressed Jacob, who followed obediently.

Cassandra kept staring in horror. "What did you do to them?"

"Oh nothing. A little possession here. A dash of betrayal there." Kurtz waved his hand. His eyes gleamed. "Now that everyone is here and truly terrified, can we start?"

Jacob set down a dazed Ezekiel and Eve in front of Cassandra's feet.

Kurtz grabbed a branch and broke part of it off into a sharp stake. He came up to Cassandra and held it out.

"Now you pick one to kill or I do it for you." He motioned at the two dazed people on the floor.

Cassandra shook her head. "No!"

Kurtz motioned to Jacob. "Grab the boy."

Jacob bent down and hauled Ezekiel to his feet. Eve started to get up shakily but was held down by branches Kurtz conjured up.

"Here's the deal, Cassandra." Kurtz' voice was dripping venom. "Either you kill one and we both get a long life, or I make your friend slit the boy's throat and get half of that. Now which sounds better?"

Cassandra stared at them as she grabbed the stake, tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry." She told her friends as she blinked away tears. She raised the stake and plunged it into her own stomach.

"What?!" Kurtz actually sounded surprised by her decision.

Eve cried out in pain from her trapped position and Ezekiel let loose tears from his place in Jacob's arms. Jacob let him go as he stumbled back a step, eyes watering at the edges.

Ezekiel crawled over to Cassandra's whimpering form on the ground.

"That wasn't the deal!" Kurtz cried out in frustration, the walls shaking with his rage. He bent down over Cassandra, throwing off a sobbing Ezekiel who snuck a hand in his coat.

Jacob stood frozen, staring at Cassandra's bleeding body and then at Ezekiel.

Ezekiel held up a parchment as he stared back.

Jacob moved forward to Kurtz. He grabbed him by the shoulder and roughly pulled him away from Cassandra.

Kurtz spun with the force. "What are you doing? I was going to get what little life I could from her!"

Jacob stared him down. "You are going back to hell, Leon."

Eve stared at them. So it really was Kurtz this whole time?

Kurtz froze as he felt his jacket pocket. It was empty.

Jacob smirked at his shock. "You no longer have our words and now we will reap you once more."

Kurtz looked scared. "No wait!"

Jacob took a step forward.

Kurtz brought forth branches that pinned Jacob to the spot. "I'm not going back!"

Jacob calmly watched him. "You have our words no longer. You will now know why we are the reapers of hell."

Jacob's eyes showed black for a moment and he phased through the branches in a smoky haze. He kept approaching Kurtz as the latter tried everything to trap him.

None of it worked.

"Your time is over, Leon." Jacob backed Kurtz against the wall and grabbed him before he could phase through it.

"You are finished." Jacob pressed his hand over Kurtz' eyes and there was a scream from the ghost before his lifeless body crumpled to the ground.

Jacob turned back to the others to see Eve released from the branches and sobbing over Cassandra beside Ezekiel.

Jacob approached them and knelt down next to the weakly gasping Cassandra. "Your sacrifice will not be in vain. You freed us and will not be reaped today." Jacob placed a hand on Cassandra's wound and Cassandra groaned as her skin knit back together.

Jacob fell back with a gasp, placing a hand on his own abdomen with a grimace. "We helped as much as we could. She will survive."

Eve and Ezekiel stared between him and her. Eve cleared her throat. "What about Stone?"

Jacob smirked. "He will survive."

Eve frowned but accepted the answer.

"Who are you?" Ezekiel held Cassandra's hand as she gained awareness back and addressed him.

Jacob smirked at her. "We are the Hollow Men." He turned his head away from them. "And now we must go."

"Thank you." Cassandra grabbed his hand and his attention.

"You're welcome." He brought his hand to her face and then fell backwards into Eve's arms with a single spasm.

Half corporeal forms slinked from him and away into the shadows.

Eve sighed as she looked over her LIts. From the one that nearly died to the one who almost actually died, to the unconscious one in her arms. They were all going to need therapy after this.

Jacob groaned in her arms. He blinked dazedly and stared up at her. "They gone this time?"

Eve looked around. "Yeah I think so."

And so they gathered themselves up and as they all stumbled away from that house, they knew they would never forget what happened there.

Under the dark sky above them, they came out alive. Yet the further they got away, a solitary whimper was left behind as a token of the pain they underwent, but unlike their suffering, it was quickly swept away by the slight breeze.


End file.
